REVIEW: High Tea at Lab



The heritage Treasury Hotel.

I am back from my holiday in Thailand and ready to share with you our experience at The Lab Bar & Restaurant at the Treasury Casino. I have been to high tea before with my mother and sister and had a lovely time. The dainty sandwiches, the pretty pastries, frilly doilies - the whole experience is traditional and wonderfully feminine. So I was a little surprised, delightfully so, when the masculine and hairy Mr. Cakes expressed his desire to accompany me to high tea! He explained it, tiny sweets and scones...why wouldn't he like it?! 


Champagne and tea and everything nice!



We both got dressed up and made our way in to the city. The Lab Bar & Restaurant is situated in the Treasury Hotel, away from the main casino building itself. The history and architecture really makes the experience special, the polished timber bar that dominates the room is beautiful and really makes you want to have a drink.

 

The vintage bar...very well stocked.

The high tea is available on the weekends from 2 - 3:30pm for $45 per person.We started off with a glass of champagne Chandon NV Sparkling Brut for $12.50 then choose our tea from the La Masion Du Thé (which means the house of tea, thank you less-than-basic-French-skills) selection. The tea choice is bottomless so if you could drink $45 worth of tea, you'd certainly be getting your money's worth.


Look how handsome Mr. Cakes looks in his blue shirt. Trust me, the rest of his is very handsome too.

After we were served our tea, the tower of afternoon delicacies were presented. I really liked all the decorative charger plates and crockery. It made the setting feel particularly fancy. Traditionally, one should eat the high tea from to top plate down, starting with the scones on the top tier then savoury items then sweet pasties. On the top tier for our high tea, we had 2 scones each, one plain and one sultana scone as well as a petit quiche and frittata each.

The scones and quiches and frittatas - oh my!



The scones are now dressed up and ready for eating!

We were given individual pots of jam for the scones along with a serving cream. The scones were really nice, perhaps not as good as Mr. Cakes'...have I not told you how good Mr. Cakes' scones are? They're amazing. He must have had lessons from Margaret Fulton. The quiche and frittata were okay, they were a little underwhelming.

Nice and appropriately moist.

The next tier was the savoury level which in this case, were finger sandwiches. There were chicken salad, tomato and cheese, roast beef, egg salad and lastly salmon. They were all fresh and moreish. And they were all the right level of not-wet until Mr. Cakes dropped one in the water, which was adorable and hilarious.


The sandwich going for a swim.



The final layer was the sweets. We had opera cake, which was my favourite, glazed fruit tarts, mini lemon meringue tarts, a macaron (yes, one 'o' in macaron) each and lastly, an adorable cream puff in the shape of a swan. Unfortunately the cutest of the desserts was the least impressive. The puff wasn't very crisp so the texture was a little stale. None of the desserts blew me away, although the presentation was lovely.

The ornate swan cream puff and friends.

The high tea at Lab was nice however although I've not been to that many high teas, this ranked No. 2 in the two I have been to. It was nice though and we had a lovely time. The best thing about it though was watching Mr.Cakes try to use the dainty serving-ware. Absolutely adorable.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5 

REVIEW: Felix Espresso & Winebar



This way for goodness!

Anyone who doesn't think Brisbane is cool ought to pay a little visit to Burnett Lane. Tucked into a little nook and up a narrow staircase is the very cool Felix Espresso & Winebar. I met with some girlfriends a few weeks ago for a before work breakfast. Walking in, I was surprised at how small Felix is, with only room for around 15 people. However Felix uses the space it does have well, with a split level dining area, seating on the lower level and espresso machine and kitchen up top. There is also a wonderful mural of the sky on one wall which is lovely to gaze at while you sup.


Head in the clouds.

With such a small space, the menu is quite small but Felix focuses on organic and whole foods with some raw items appearing on the menu too. So it's very much about quality over quantity. Even though the menu is limited with less than a dozen items on the menu for both breakfast and lunch, there are a selection baked goods as well as a few extra items on the specials board.


Yeah, I'm not sure about you Green juice...you taste good but you look strange.

For drinks we ordered two juices, a fresh squeezed orange juice and a green juice with kale, mango and orange, both $8. The orange juice was tart and delicious. I've never been brave enough for green juices, I just can't get over the look of it but I did try a little of this one and it was very nice. I may be brave and take the plunge soon. A coffee was $4 for a large cup and was reportedly very, very good. Another was ordered after the first.


Oh lordy. Will you look at this? This is the milk hot chocolate.



This is the dark chocolate version.

The hot chocolate at Felix is something to rave about. I had a juice but after tasting some of one of the hot chocolates, I couldn't help but order one for myself! They come in both dark and milk chocolate at $4, which is pretty awesome. They are smooth, they are velvety and just...uh. So good. Felix is now where we get our hot chocolates all the time! If you go, I can't impress highly enough the importance of getting one of these.

The healthy choice, chia and fruit.

The food followed quickly after the drinks with the Cup of Chia Topped with Raw Coconut Cashew Cream and Fruit ($6) sticking closely to the healthy theme. It serve was pretty generous for the price and the coconut cashew cream was delicious. The fruit was fresh with a good mix of berries and apple. It all went well together and tasted like springtime on a spoon.


That's French mustard, I'll have you know.

The toasted sandwich de jour was Ham with Gruyere Cheese Served with Mustard and Pickles for $10. It looked a little lonely on the large plate but was stuffed full of both ham and cheese. As someone who has scored the city looking for a simple toasty, it was good to see it on the menu. The diner was happy with her choice as well.


That's a lotta avocado.

I am always partial to a good avocado on toast for breakfast and the Avocado on Olive Toast with Lemon ($6) was hard to pass up. It too was dwarfed by the size of the plate and I almost grumbled about there being only one piece but when I remembered it was only $6, there really wasn't much to complain about given the prices for most inner city breakfasts. The avocado was fresh and the bread was good.

If it comes in a little pan, you know it's a good sign.

The ordering game was won by the lucky recipient of the Shakshuka and Eggs with Sourdough ($11). I just love it when things come out in little cast-iron pans. I'm so glad that it's a popular way to serve food. This particular dish came out all hot and full of spices with an egg on top. I was most jealous.


The coloured glass cast a lovely glow throughout the restaurant.

Overall Felix was a win, a cute café that's tight on space but big on heart. As I said, I've been back many times to get more of their delicious hot chocolates and would also like to give their salad range a try. It's a great spot to catch up with friends before work.

Food: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5Price: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5



Brisbane Food Blog
Brisbane Food Blog

REVIEW: Plenty

It's amazing what people can do with pallets these days.

A hangover made the prospect of facing the day without an indulgent breakfast impossible and yet the task of cooking one seemed equally insurmountable. What choice do a group of dusty ladies have but to go out for breakfast?

 

There's a warehouse feel to Plenty, that seems to be very popular in restaurant/café décor.

 Plenty has been creating buzz amongst Brisbane breakfast connoisseurs since they opened their doors late last year. They tout organic and farm fresh food in their pared back, warehouse surroundings from Montague Street in West End.

Plenty also sell a range items such as condiments, teas, ice creams and lovely, fragrant soaps!

With the West End markets doing their best to operate on the rainy weather just across the road, parking was a little hard to find. I imagine it would have been more difficult had the weather been sunny!

There was a small collection of people waiting to get a table and we got some drinks to warm us as we waited under the slightly inadequate umbrellas. There was some confusion as to if we had to collect the drinks at the counter or if they would come find us, however the drinks found us in due course.

I can't remember what this tea was, I think ginger and mint. It was nice anyway!

Before we had finished them, we were called to our table and it felt like Beyoncé herself had summoned us, I was so excited. Unfortunately, she hadn't but we did get a table inside so swings and roundabouts, really.

Plenty has counter service so we went up in pairs to order. There were pikelets on the menu which sounded very alluring but ultimately I went with the Braised Steak and Onion Melt with a Fried Egg on top ($14.50). Two of our party chose to order the Poached Eggs on Potato Hash with Carrot Jam, Persian Feta and Bacon ($16.50) and lastly, an order of Avocado on Toast with Fassifern Valley Tomatoes, Basil and Buffalo Mozzarella ($13.50) with a Poached Egg ($3.50) on the side.

One half of the chocolate milkshake.

Milkshakes were the order of the day, in terms of drinks anyway with two salted caramel milkshakes and one chocolate milkshake which was kindly split into two. I had a sip of the chocolate, and although it was nice, I would have been dirty had I not got the salted caramel milkshake. Because it was very good. The texture was pretty good, could have been thicker but I think I always say that, but the flavour knocked it out of the building. There were flakes of sea salt at the bottom of the canister! And can I just say that serving a milkshake in a steel canister is the best way to serve a milkshake? It just feels right! Well done, Plenty.

The salted caramel milkshake. It would bring a few boys to the yard.

Meals arrived and I had more than a little bit of order envy over the Poached Eggs on Potato Hash as it looked gorgeous! It was mentioned to us that the chef has been preparing this particular dish for years, exactly how many escapes me know but the love put in showed. The plate was beautifully presented and the ethos of Plenty was evident - fresh, flavourful and lots of vegetables! By all accounts, it was a winner.

Look at that presentation! And I mean the artful placing of the fork.

The Avocado on Toast was also visually appealing with a mix of red and green tomatoes with freshly torn herbs. My waifish dining partner was more than happy with the serving size but had I ordered it in my rough, ravenous state, I would have been left wanting. No complaints from the recipient though and it looked wonderfully appealing.

I really think I hit the ordering nail on the head with my brunch choice. There was buttery bread, there was cheese, there was meltingly tender steak and sharp onion. And literally on top of all that, there was a fried egg! If that's not a hangover cure, then I don't know what is. Some may be put off by the indulgent nature of the melt, but they would be missing out. Highly recommended to remedy a sore head.

 The hangover cure! *Angels singing*

There was a great atmosphere at Plenty, which in part could be contributed to the fantastic company I enjoyed but also from the buzzing ambience. Service was a little stilted at times, such as our table getting a little crowded from dirty dishes but given the high quality of food and earnest effort from the staff, this is easily forgiven and overall, I would highly recommend Plenty. I look forward to returning and trying the pikelets! 

Food: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 3.5/5

REVIEW: Dannyboys Sandwich Bar



This is the front of the shop. Can you see my reflection there?

Last weekend, I attended an event called Eat Brisbane, which is a food orientated meet-up for Instagrammers and bloggers. This was the fourth ever Eat Brisbane (Instagram profile @EatBrisbane) event held. I was really excited to be involved in this event as I felt it was a great opportunity to meet lots of the foodies I follow and it was great to put face to Instagram names.


Dannyboys is so street.

The meet was held at Dannyboys Sandwich bar at Kelvin Grove. I had seen the name of Dannyboys around but being on the other side of the city, the north side, it might has well have been in Cameroon. But then Eat Brisbane happened, so I got in my car and went to Cameroon! And by that, I mean Kelvin Grove.

The star of Dannyboys sandwiches are the bread. Baked in house, with no added preservatives, the smell of the bread was the first thing that hit me as I entered the shop. The second was the funky graffiti that adorned the walls and the upbeat atmosphere.


Check out my pamphlet styling skillz. 

I met the Eat Brisbane hosts (on Instagram under (@Ausmican_Eats  and  @Ameriaus_Food) and made my way upstairs to the seating area which filled up fast with fellow foodies and sat down to peruse the menu. Dannyboys menu reads like a sandwich lovers heaven with so many amazing sandwiches! 

This is from the episode of The Simpsons where Homer takes the sandwich home from the company picnic and he eats it for weeks after and then he's too sick to go to Duff Land. Just so you know.

The KJ Club which has turkey breast, bacon, cheddar cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce and mayonnaise almost had me but ultimately I chose the eponymous Dannyboy sandwich ($10) which has ovenbaked chicken breast, mozzarella, onion, lettuce with both ranch and buffalo sauces. My dining companion (@diddylaws )chose another one of my contenders, The Halfbrick ($10) which has ovenbaked chicken breast, bacon, avocado, tomato, lettuce and ranch dressing and her partner (@lawsy) chose the grand sounding Big Boy ($12) with leg ham, corned beef, shaved chicken loaf, salami, cheddar, tomato, onions, pickles, lettuce and mayonnaise. Phew! I'm tired just listing all those ingredients!


Look at this bread. So good.

We also got the choice of soup and I was so close not to ordering one but I am so glad I did. We got two serves of the Vegetable Corn Chowder and one serve of Broccoli Cheddar, all $4.50. The food arrived really quickly and my fears of so many sandwich orders holding up my lunch were quickly allayed. And I was so happy to be tucking in to the soup which was thick and creamy with visible bits of carrots and corn. The broccoli cheddar soup got rave reviews as well and was thick with melted cheese. he bread on the side was my first taste of Dannyboys famous bread and I devoured the lot! The bread was so good, soft on the inside, crusty on the outside. Things looked promising for the sandwich.

This soup was so good and when you dipped the bread in, you got some croutons on the bread and what goes better with bread than bread?

And that promise delivered. The sandwich was absolutely stuffed with flavour. It was messy and drippy and so good. The sandwiches knocked each table in succession into silence as the sandwiches were greedily consumed. I was more than a little dusty from a night of drinking before and this sandwich had the stuff to set me straight. The half brick and big boy were received equally high praise.


This was my sandwich, the Danny Boy.



...and this was the Big Boy!



And this was the Half Brick with the Broccoli Cheddar soup.

The sandwich was the short version but I couldn't finish it all and I did try. So when the cupcakes came round, I was devastated I couldn't fit them in as Dannyboys claim they're some of the best in Brisbane...they haven't tried mine though so I'll let that slide. But they looked amazing and the bit I did pick at was very, very good. Maybe not Cassie Cake good but don't let that deter you!  

Hmm...it does look good, maybe we should have a Dannyboy vs. Cassie Cakes cupcake off!

The Oreo cupcake! Who would win in a bake off?!

I don't often venture over to the dark side, I mean the north side but next time I'm over that way, I know where to get the best damn sandwiches in Brisbane. Highly recommended! And thanks to the organisers of Eat Brisbane 4 for a great afternoon out! Check out the hashtag #EatBrisbane4 on Instagram for more great photos of the event.

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5